What does it mean to be justified before God?  How can a holy God justify sinful men?  Why is it important to be justified before God?  These questions go to the heart of man's relationship with God.  The Scriptures reveal the holiness of God.  Unlike other deities, the God of the Bible is revealed as holy, righteous, and without sin.  God says,

"I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things" (Jer. 9.24).

Righteousness, justice, and love are integral to God's character.  They reveal his essential nature.  The Mosaic Law revealed God's holiness to Israel.  The Scriptures also reveal that man, unlike God, is not holy.  Man is sinful.  The early chapters of Genesis demonstrate how man became alienated in his relationship with God.  Theologians call this the Fall.  The penalty for man's sin was death.  God had warned Adam of this.  He said to Adam,

"From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2.16-17).

Literally, the Hebrew for "surely die" is "dying you will die".  Adam and Eve did not die physically on the day they ate the fruit; they died spiritually.  Their relationship with God was broken.  Physical death came to them much later.  This how the problem of sin and death began for mankind.

Paul tells us,

For the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6.23a).

Ezekiel wrote the same thing:

Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine.  The soul who sins will die. (Ez. 18.4).

While the penalty for sin is death, the Mosaic Law had provisions for forgiveness.  These were in the Levitical sacrifices.  Under the Levitical sacrifices, when a person realized his sin, by faith, he took an animal to the priest.  He placed his hand upon the animal (a lamb or a goat usually) and confessed his sin.  Then the priest cut the animal's throat.  This sacrifice was a temporary covering of the man's sin.  The man identified his sin with the animal and recognized that the animal was taking his place in death.  The blood of the animal was shed, for "without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness" (Heb. 9.22).

The Law was an instrument of judgment.  No one can stand before God and be justified on the basis of his own good works.  The Psalmist wrote,

And do not enter into judgment with Thy servant, For in Thy sight no man living is righteous (Ps. 143.2).

"To justify" means to declare righteous rather than make righteous.  The meaning for justification that comes through the Scriptures is of a legal and forensic nature.  Thus, God says, "I will not justify the wicked" (Ex. 23.7) and in Isaiah we read, "Let them present their witness that they may be justified" (Is. 43.9).  In this passage, legal testimony is the basis for justification.

Therefore, the Old Testament thought of a righteous man is one who is accepted before God by securing a verdict of acquittal.

The thought of acquiring merit before God by one's own efforts is common.  Most people believe that one's judgment before God is the weighing up of merits and demerits done during one's lifetime.  If one's good deeds outweigh the bad, then one will enter into heaven.  If one's bad deeds outweigh the good, then one will be confined to hell.  This was a common view in Rabbinism in Jesus' day.  This idea, however, is foreign to the Scriptures.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5.21).

Since our righteousness before God is like a "filthy garment" we need another kind of righteousness.  Isaiah says,

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment (Is. 64.6).

The only way we can obtain God's righteousness is through putting our trust in Christ and his work on our behalf.  Faith is is the instrument by which one appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Rom. 1.17; 3.25-26; 4.20-22; Phil. 3.8-11; Gal. 2.16).

The act of faith which secures our justification also secures our sanctification.   The doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (Rom. 6:2-7).  Good works, while not the ground, are the result of justification (6:14; 7:6; Eph. 2.8-10).

The following are key verses in the doctrine of justification:

Romans 3

19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that
every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God;
20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law
comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is
no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate
His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously
committed;
26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just
and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of
faith.
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is
one.
31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the
Law.

Romans 4

1 WHAT then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? «ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED
TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.»
4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.
5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
credited as righteousness,
6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart
from works:
7 «BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND
WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
8 «BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.»
9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, «FAITH
WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.»

Romans 5

1 THEREFORE, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ,
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand;
and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
.
.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would
dare even to die.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of
God through Him.

Romans 8:33 Who will bring a change against God's elect?  Go is the one who justifies.

Romans 9

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness,even the righteousness which is by faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled
over the stumbling stone,
33 just as it is written, «BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK
OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.»

Romans 10

1 BRETHREN, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
2 For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
3 For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not
subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Galatians 2

16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in
Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
17 «But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is
Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!
18 «For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
19 «For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.
20 «I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself
up for me.
21 «I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died
needlessly.»

Galatians 3

6 Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7 Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.
8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
beforehand to Abraham, saying, «ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.»
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, «CURSED IS
EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF
THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.»
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, «THE RIGHTEOUS MAN
SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.»

19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through
angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been
made.
20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given
which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.
22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ
might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which
was later to be revealed.
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Titus 3

5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to
His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.